Tony Vitello makes case for Tennessee to be a host team

Tennessee’s run in the 2025 SEC Tournament came to an end on Saturday, as it was dominated in the semifinals by in-state rival Vanderbilt 10-0. The run-rule loss puts the Volunteers at 43-16 (16-14), right on the fringe of being a top-16 national seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Following the disappointing showing from his team on Saturday, head coach Tony Vitello made his plea for the Volunteers to host a Regional in Knoxville for the fourth time in the past five seasons.

“I think it would be phenomenal for the fans to have another go around,” Vitello responded when asked about potentially hosting a Regional in Knoxville. “It was kind of a quirky year where timing of some things and weather things wasn’t ideal. There were times we had an opportunity to entertain the fans, which is certainly not the goal, and it did not occur.”

The reigning National Champions opened the season with a stellar 20-0 record before being upset by East Tennessee State 7-6 on March 18 in Knoxville. Following that loss, Tennessee went just 23-15 in its next 38 games and lost nine home games for the first time since 2021.

Vitello boasts RPI Rankings

“It can be an advantage for us too,” Vitello said. “We talked in the cages one time where we won a one-run game but [the fans] were an edge for us in that one in particular. They’ve been that in the past few years so I think it would be great for them and our kids. We’re not in control of it, so we’ll let those people that are fully qualified to sit in the room and diagnose that.”

As of May 24, both On3 and D1Baseball still have Tennessee as a national seed. Vitello made his case further, listing the teams they beat this season and in Hoover.

“I assume Texas and Vanderbilt are 1-2 or one and two and three or four in RPI and Alabama was a swing host team, we were able to beat them. Florida was a swing host team and we were fortunate enough to beat them in the regular season and outlasted them here. Sour taste for everybody today but the thing this team needs to do when it has a three-game set is to win a series or three game-set, because the Regional is a bit of a different animal and these kids have played well on the road. But yes, would love to play at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.”

Tennessee was able to down Alabama (No. 15 in RPI) and Texas (No. 4 in RPI) in its first two SEC Tournament games, adding two more Q1 wins to its resume. Heading into Monday’s selection show, the Volunteers are 14-11 against Q1 teams, 7-5 against Q2 teams, 3-0 against Q3 teams and 4-0 against Q4 teams.